BlackBerry Sales Softening Worldwide: Analyst

RIM's BlackBerry sales are deteriorating outside the United States, suggests a new analyst report. That puts more pressure on BlackBerry 10 to succeed.

Research In Motion and its BlackBerry franchise face
softening interest in its current handsets, according to a new analyst report.
That puts more pressure on BlackBerry 10, its next-generation mobile platform,
to succeed in the marketplace.
We believe RIMs low-end handset sales trends have
continued to deteriorate in North America, Latin America and Europe, Peter
Misek an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote in a co-authored March 1
research note. In particular, sales in Europe decreased significantly towards
the end of the quarter. We believe this is very negative as sales outside of
the U.S. had typically been more resilient. However, his checks indicated that
BlackBerry sales in Asia remained okay.

Meanwhile, Misek also felt that BlackBerrys higher-end
devices face a continuing challenge from the iPhone and Android. We believe
the iPhone 5 launch (we expect end of Q2/Q3) ahead of the BB10 launch (we
expect Sep) will be particularly troubling, he wrote. The BB10 will also have
to compete head-to-head in H2 with Microsoft/Nokia as the Windows 8 platform
attempts to become the #3 player.

RIM has been encouraging third-party developers to build
apps for its PlayBook, which relies on the same QNX code base as BlackBerry 10;
in theory, apps built for the tablet will port over to the smartphone platform
with relatively little fuss. But RIM will need much more than a robust apps
ecosystem if it wants BlackBerry 10 to successfully push back against Apples
iPhone, Google Android, and Windows Phone.
A Feb. 13 posting on the CrackBerry
blog suggested that BlackBerry 10 will feature home-screen widgets
reminiscent of Windows Phones Live Tiles, a tray with smart icons capable of
displaying information, a universal inbox and perhaps video chat.
RIM fully intends to double down on BlackBerry 10. Our
checks indicate RIM is likely to move away from a proposal to the Board that
RIM license BB10 to Samsung and launch a new BBM, email, and social networking
app for iOS/Android for a monthly fee, Misek wrote in a Febuary research note.
The new plan, he added, will center on RIM competing against Apple, Android
and Windows ecosystems with their own integrated hardware/software/services
ecosystem.

For some time, RIM executives have touted BlackBerry 10 as a
game-changer. If the operating system doesnt succeed, however, RIM will likely
need to ask some very hard questions about its own future.
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Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.